Non-refillable bottle.



P. A. 'STEPHENSON vlIOII-REFILLABLE BOTTLE. APPLIATloN FILED Nov.22,1909.

Patented Mar. 14,1911.l

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UNED STATES PATENT FICE.

FRED A. STEPHENSON, F GREEN RIVER, WYOMING.

NON-REFILLABLE BOTTLE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED A. STEPHENSON, citizen of the United States,residing at Green River, in the county of Sweetwater and State ofWyoming, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Non-Beillable Bottles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for preventing the unauthorized refillingof bottles, and particularly to a device adapted to be inserted in abottle neck, said device comprising, generally speaking, a casing withinwhich is located a valve mechanism, said valve being adapted to opentoward the mouth of the bottle, when the bottle is inverted, but, exceptwhen the full pressure of liquid bears thereon, to remain closed so asto prevent the refilling` of the bottle, the invent-ion furtherincluding a slightly magnetic valve seat and a metal valve held in placeby the magnetism of the seat.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof, and toacquire a knowledge of the details of construction, reference is to behad to the following description and accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a section of the upper portion of a bottle showing myimproved valve in place; Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the improvedvalve; Fig. 3 is a like view, but taken at right angles to Fig. 2; and,Fig. t is a horizontal transverse section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawing by the samereference characters.

Referring to these figures, A designates the body of the bottle, and Bthe neck thereof of any suitable character, the neck, slightly above itsjunction with the upper portion, being provided with the annular grooveor channel C.

Insertible into the neck of the bottle, previous to 'its being filled,is the valve casing 2 which may be made of metal, glass or any othersuitable material. This casing is open at both ends, and the upper endof the casing is contracted, as at 3. Supported upon the contracted endof the casing is the baffle hood l, concave-convex in section, andsupported upon the upper end of the casing 2 by the legs 5. The bafflehood is larger than Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led November 22, 1909.

Patented Mar. la, 1911.

sei-iai ivo. 529,501.

the opening of the casing 2 so as to prevent the insertion of anyinstrument into the valve casing. Mounted within the valve casing is theannular valve seat 6, and crossing the casing is the bridge 7 Below thevalve seat is located the bridge strip 8, and passing through bothstrips 7 and S is the valve spindle 9 which carries upon it theconcavo-conveX valve l0 adapted to rest upon the seat 6 and being heldin position upon the seat by magnetism in the seat 6 and also by aspring 1l which surrounds the valve spindle.

In order to hold the valve casing in place, I provide detents l2 whichproject through diametrically opposed openings in the lower end of thevalve casing 2 and which are freely movable radially in these openings.Attached to these detents is the bowed spring 13 which acts to force thedetents outward and the detents into engagement with the recesses D inthe base of the bottle neck. Surrounding the casing is a packing 14; ofany suitable character which will prevent any liquid from passingoutside of the valve casing.

lThe operation of my invention is obvious. After the bottle is initiallyfilled, the bowedV spring 13 is contracted so as to permit the valvecasing to be forced into the mouth of the bottle. The valve casing isthen forced downward until its detents engage in the recesses D. It willnow be obvious that upon an inversion of the bottle, the contentsthereof will press upon the valve and will force it open against theforce of the spring 1l and against the attraction resident in themagnetic seat 6. Upon a return of the bottle to its upright position, orimmediatelywhen the full weight of the liquid is taken oif the valve,the valve will close against the seat. By using a magnetic seat, it ispossible to very much reduce the strength of the spring 11. If amagnetic seat were not used, the spring 11, if strong enough to hold thevalve to its seat when the bottle was turned upon its side, would be toostrong to permit the valve to open when the bottle was inverted,particularly if most of the liquid in the bottle had been poured out sothat comparatively little remained. By using the magnetic seat, however,the spring may be made very light, and yet the valve will not leave itsseat until the bottle is oompletely inverted. The spring, in combina- Ycasing and bearing against the angularends tion with the magnetic seat,acts to return the valve to its seat, and not to hold it inV lace.

Y It will be seen that my construction is very simple, easily assembled,and quickly placed inside the bottle neck. It will also be seen that itis entirely effective in use, the projecting, rounded hood l preventingany tampering with the valve mechanism, and the valve mechanismpositively preventing any refilling of the bottle. Y

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is l. A device forpreventing the refilling of bottles, comprising a cylindrical valvecasing rounded and contracted at its upper end and open at both ends, aconcavo-convex hood larger than the contracted upper end Y t of thecasing and supported thereon in spaced relation thereto, a bridge piecehaving angular extremities, equal in length to the diametery of thecasing and inserted within the casing and held in place by theycontracted upper end thereof, an annular magnetic valve seat locatedinteriorly of the of the firstl named bridge piece, a second bridgepiece also having angular ends, equal in length to the diameter of thecasing, said second bridge piece being inserted within f Y the casingand having its angular ends bearing against the annular valve seat,ar'valve stem passing through both bridge pieces, a Y metallic valvesupported upon the valve stem and resting uponthe valve sea-t, a'coilspring surrounding the valve stem and bearing at its upper end againstthe upper bridge piece and at its lower end against the valve andforcing the valve down into engagement with the seat, and means forholding the casing within abottle neck and preventing its detachmenttherefrom.

2. A device for preventing the refilling of bottles, comprising acylindrical valve casing rounded and contracted at its upper end andopen atboth ends, a concavo-convex Copies of `this patent may beobtained for hood larger than the contracted upper end of the casing andsupported thereon iny spaced' relation thereto, a bridge piecek havingangular extremities, equalin length to ythe diameter of the casing andinserted withinthe casing and held in place by the contracted upper endthereof, an annular magnetic valve seatl'ocated interiorly of the casingand bearing against the angular ends ofthe first named bridge'piece, asecond bridge piece also having angular ends, equal in length to thediameterv of the casing, said second bridge piece being .inserted withinthe casing and having its angular ends bearing against the annular valveseat, a valve stem passing through both bridge pieces, a metallic valvesupported upon the valve stem and resting upon the valve seat, a coilspring surrounding the valve stem and bearing at its upper end againstthe upper bridge piece' and at its lower end against the valve andforcing the valve down into engagement with the seat, and a bow-shapeddetent spring located at the lower end of the casing and extendingtransversely across the same immediately beneath the valve spindle andlimiting the downward movement of the valve spindle, said spring havingoutwardly turned ends extending through slots in the casing` andengaging the wall of a bottle to prevent the removal of the casing butadapted to be pressed inward to permit the insertion of the casing intoa bottle.

l 3. A non-refillable bottle having a neck provided at its base with anannular groove, a cylindrical casing insertible into the neck andprovided on its exterior with a packing ring fitting the neck, saidcasing having a rounded and contracted upper end, the upper end of thecasing being bent and the lower end being provided with lateralperforaptions, an upper bridgevpiece disposed within the casing andextending transverselyV across the same and having downwardly extendingends, said bridge piece being .held in place by the contracted upperfendof the casing, an annular magnetic valve seat disposed within the casingand against the angular ends of the upper bridge "piece, aV lower bridgepiece extending transversely across the casing and bearing against thevalve seat and holding it in place, a valve spindle passing through bothof the bridge pieces, a valve'on said spindle adapted to normally restupon said seat, a spring located between the upper bridge piece and thevalve and holding them in place, and a bow-shaped spring inserted in thecasing but depending below the same andA extending transversely acrossthe casing immediately beneath the lower extremity of the valve stem andpreventing any downward movement of the Yvalve stem, the extremities ofsaid spring in presence of two witnesses.

FRED A. STEPHENSON.A [Ls] Witnesses:

i KENNETH SCOTT,-

Jnssn L. HARDIN.

ve cents each, by addressing theA Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D. G. Y

